By David Lillard
Each July in Jefferson County, the curtain rises on a growing variety of arts, entertainment, and cultural offerings. From the Contemporary American Theater Festival’s five-play repertory to Shepherd University’s quiet historical walks featuring characters in historic dress, from the 10th annual Goose Route Dance Festival to the Over the Mountain summer art show, there’s a lot to see and hear. Plus, there’s a new art gallery in Charles Town, one celebrating its three-year anniversary in Shepherdstown, and a new art school in Shepherdstown. The month ends with an …

 
By David Lillard

At first the new name, “Hollywood,” seemed a stretch. You can dress it up, but Charles Town should go by the familiar Chuck Town to locals. Sure it’s the town the Washingtons built, and even the Colonials loved horse racing.
Two steps into the door, though, this really is Hollywood, not because the giant, curvaceous hi-def video wall plays movie trailers. “Hollywood” comes from the feeling of walking onto a movie set. Or stepping into the movie.
Workers are raising massive stone pillars that seem to hold up the sky …

Blue Ridge Press by David Lillard
I just spent a few days in my favorite national park, Shenandoah. It was great to escape cell phones, wi-fi, and email. It was even better to escape the “anger” being flashed on TV screens and splashed across newspapers. Enjoying the majestic Blue Ridge Mountains from Skyline Drive, it became clear that we Americans have much more to be thankful for than angry about. And though it’s unpopular to say it in some quarters, we taxpayers have often invested wisely.
Approaching summer, at a time when …

 
In advance of the upcoming primary elections, The Observer’s David Lillard asked candidates for the County Commission, House of Delegates and W.Va. Senate to share their views on a range of topics. Because this is a primary race, we surveyed only the races in which there were intra-party contests. But to give all candidates in those races “equal ink,” we surveyed unchallenged candidates in the races we surveyed. So, if a couple of Democrats are facing off in a primary, we surveyed an unchallenged GOP candidate in the same race. …

 
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposal under the Clean Water Act to restrict or prohibit mountaintop mining at the Spruce No. 1 surface mine in Logan County, W. Va. The project was permitted in 2007 and subsequently delayed by litigation. The EPA says Spruce No. 1 mine would bury over seven miles of headwater streams, directly impact 2,278 acres of forestland, and degrade water quality in streams adjacent to the mine.
Last year  EPA launched a review into applications for permits allowing mountaintop removal. It’s a process in …

By David Lillard
Imagine this. A couple of West Virginia high-school kids commit some pranks one weekend. Local officials decide to teach them a lesson, and file criminal charges. One of the kids, call him Ted, happens to be 18 years old, an adult. The case is heard by a circuit court judge who only recently took office—the guy ran for judge after tiring of his career as a government lawyer doing arcane administrative work. The judge is new to criminal law. He is in over his head, outmatched by the …

By Davic Lillard
West Virginia was once a leading producer of maple syrup. Today, even though 80 percent of the Mountain State is covered with hardwoods—about 110,000 square miles of them—West Virginia barely registers in syrup production. Neal Super’s Mountain State Maple is starting a homegrown sugarin’ renaissance here in the relative flatlands of Jefferson County. In February, when the days are warming but the nights are still cold, it’s sugaring time in our region. Unlike many sap tappers, solitary figures working sugar stands in a secluded hollow, for Super it’s …


—Shepherd Town, W.Va., December 29, 2020.
In a long an-ticipated move, the Shepherd Town Council approved a mea-sure to move its Town Hall to Omega House, a university fra-ternity house.Then they enjoyed a parade down German Street. The decision formalizes a decade-old merger de facto be-tween the Town of Shepherd, formerly known as Shepherds -town, and Shepherd Univer-sity’s student body.
The move, Council watchers say, merely completes a process begun in 2009 when the then-Shepherd-stown Council voted to annex a significant portion of the cam-pus, effectively handing con-trol of the town to …

The countywide referendum to allow table games at Charles Town Races & Slots won easy approval. The measure was carried by a margin of 6279 to 4343,  winning in nearly every precinct. The results are unofficial until the official canvass to be held on December 11 at Charles Town Library Meeting Room at 9am.

by David Lillard
It’s a stunning autumn morning on the interstate. Blazing strands of orange cotton stretch across the skies above the Allegheny Front, moving eastward as the car blazes west toward Wheeling and a maiden voyage to Wheeling Island Casino.
License plates on big pickups zoom past my slowpoke four cylinders in a parade of the states. Maybe because I’m on my way to a racetrack, the plates and the dreaminess of a road trip drift me back some 30 years. One Delaware plate, Maryland, Maryland, Jersey . . . I’m …